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🚨 For over two years, we have been reporting @Meta's Facebook violations against freedom of expression in Somaliland and Somalia.
We held a series of meetings, yet Meta never acknowledged their violations.
We eventually took the matter to the Oversight Board, who thankfully accepted our case.
After months of review and investigation, the Oversight Board has now overturned Facebook’s actions in four cases related to freedom of expression in Somaliland.
The verdict:
- The Board has overturned Meta’s decision to take down an independent journalist’s Facebook Page and four pieces of content covering current affairs in Somaliland, noting that there was no justification for their removal. Taking down the Page and content was inconsistent with Meta’s human rights responsibilities.
- Meta’s systems failed to safeguard independent journalism and public interest reporting in Somaliland.
- The company’s failure to include the journalist’s Page in its cross-check system highlights a broader systemic problem.
- The Board expressed particular concern that Meta’s systems to prevent over-enforcement did not prioritize public interest journalists working in the Somali language—especially concerning after Meta’s January announcement of a new approach to moderation promising “more speech and fewer mistakes.”
- Meta’s Journalist Registration Program, which offers enhanced security protections, does not cover Somalia, including Somaliland—this exclusion could have prevented the problem in this case.
- To better protect journalists in regions where media freedom is under threat, the Board recommends that Meta develop new criteria and systems to proactively enroll journalists’ Pages and accounts in its cross-check system to prevent enforcement errors.
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